Sebastian Vettel quickest as Robert Kubica makes F1 test return

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel clocked the quickest time during Wednesday’s in-season test at the Hungaroring, as McLaren’s Lando Norris impressed, while Robert Kubica made his long-awaited comeback in an official session.

Vettel completed just two hours in the morning, prior to handing over to team-mate Kimi Räikkönen as planned, but it was sufficient enough for the German to finish on top.

Vettel’s best lap on Supersofts was a 1:17.124 as he finished 0.261s clear of McLaren protégé Lando Norris.

Norris impressed on his public Formula 1 test debut, having run competitively on Supersoft and Ultrasoft tyres, and appeared composed in the MCL32.

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The 17-year-old Briton put in a best of 1:17.385 as he gradually chipped away at his best time, recording his quickest lap during the final hour on the Ultrasofts.

His copybook was slightly blotted by a spin at Turn 4 during the final moments of the morning session, but he amassed 87 laps, while Räikkönen placed third, almost half a second further back.

The majority of the focus on another hot and sunny day in Hungary was on Kubica, as he competed in an official F1 session for the first time since February 2011.

Kubica hit the track shortly after the green flag was given, to the delight of assembled fans in the grandstand opposite, and survived a hairy moment as he drove out of the pits in the R.S.17.

The Pole, surrounded by masses of journalists and photographers, clipped the garage wall with his right-rear, and the force caused an above sign to fall down.

However, that was the only apparent setback on a largely positive day for Kubica, as he continues to explore his chances of making a comeback to Formula 1.

Kubica completed several runs in the morning, steadily improving his time on Supersofts, before logging a consistent, longer run on Soft tyres.

Kubica lowered his lap time during the afternoon session, firstly on Supersofts, before initially failing to improve on Ultrasofts.

However, Kubica emerged on another set of Ultrasofts and clocked a time of 1:18.572, to finish fourth best, having completed 142 laps, over two race distances worth of mileage. 

Toro Rosso split test duties between Carlos Sainz Jr. (morning) and Daniil Kvyat (afternoon), following on from Sean Gelael’s outing on Tuesday.

Sainz Jr. finished his run in fifth place overall, with team-mate Kvyat behind in sixth, the Russian causing a red flag when he stopped on track shortly after setting his best time.

Force India again shared duties between Lucas Auer and Nikita Mazepin, this time with the Austrian driving in the morning, before the F3 racer took over post-lunch.

Auer was seventh quickest while Mazepin placed ninth, as both added to their experience in the VJM10.

Mercedes protégé George Russell ran with a tweaked version of the halo during the opening hour, and again in the final 15 minutes, though in between it was removed from the car.

Russell finished eighth quickest, with his best time coming on the Supersoft tyres.

Reigning GP2 champion Pierre Gasly returned to the RB13 and rounded out the top 10, while Luca Ghiotto got his first Formula 1 run out with Williams and completed 160 laps, the most of any driver.

Haas development driver Santino Ferrucci had another day in the VF-17, having got up to speed on Tuesday, and finished in 12^th place.

Honda protégé Nobuharu Matsushita received his first taste of Formula 1 machinery with Sauber and survived a spin to finish at the foot of the standings.

The session came to an end 10 minutes earlier than planned due to a red flag, with the cause unknown.

Hungary In-Season Test – Day Two: